Arithmetic
by Tanya Lilac
Summary: NejiTen LJ contest '07. Scar's prequel. Arata looked far younger than twenty three. He was good looking in his photograph, but Tenten decided that the photograph had done him no justice whatsoever. It was just too bad that Neji was getting jealous. NejiTe
1. First: Dress

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_or any affiliates. If I did, it would be called Neji. Or Tenten.

Written for the Live Journal NejiTen Contest 2007. First, Outer, Inner, Last.

**Arithmetic**

**Tanya Lilac**

_Dress_

The year Tenten became a Chuunin had been a year of firsts. For instance, it had been the first year that she had worn a dress since she had been five years old.

"I don't like it," she muttered crossly. "It's too short." She tugged at the silk in a feeble attempt to lower the hem. It stayed at its scandalous length, just halfway down her thighs.

"And this obi does nothing!" The red obi was embroidered with dragons- the only good thing about the skimpy kimono styled dress.

"It's… fashionable." Neji's voice crackled in her ear, even though he was sitting on the couch opposite her.

"I know, it's just… I don't think I want to do this anymore."

Team Gai had been tasked with their first B class mission that week. It was simple enough- Tenten, as one of the younger kunoichi, was supposed to approach their target and lure him up into a room where Lee and Gai-sensei would knock him out and take him to a secure location. Neji would be Tenten's backup in the field, should anything go awry in their plan.

The man's name was Arata- and that was all that they knew about him, apart from his fetish for young girls. All of the older kunoichi were too tall to masquerade as a fourteen year old and Tenten had been eager to prove herself. So, Team Gai had accepted the mission.

Looking back, Tenten wondered if it had really been a good idea. The dress that she'd been given was really far too short for her liking and the high heels made her look… not herself. Her makeup drew attention to her eyes, the blush in her cheeks was high and her lips had been painted crimson. Neji had been forced to suppress a nosebleed when she walked into the room, huffily complaining that she was not allowed to bring any kind of weapon with her into the club because there were metal detectors at the entrance.

"You… won't need them." Neji said, with some difficulty. "In any case-"

"Where would I hide them?" Tenten finished with a sigh as she sat heavily opposite the couch Neji was sitting on.

The Hyuuga was wearing dark denim jeans that were fraying at the hem and a black shirt with the cuffs rolled back. Makeup covered his curse seal and contact lenses changed the colour of his eyes from white to blue. He looked… strange. They both did.

"Don't worry," Neji sat down beside her. She smiled when he put his arm around her shoulders, his warm hand brushing her bared shoulder. "I'll be there, should Arata even think of trying anything."

"Thanks, Neji." The kunoichi sighed and leaned on his shoulder, her eyes drifting shut.

The Hyuuga looked down. Her hair had been pulled up into a single, loose bun that threatened to unravel and fall into rich, sensuous cascades over her shoulder. Her eyelashes, lengthened by the mascara, formed sooty curves on her high cheekbones and her mouth was curved into a slight smile.

Lee walked in a few minutes later and beamed brightly at the sight of Tenten, half asleep with Neji's arm wrapped around her slender shoulders. Neji offered no explanation- Lee already knew how close the two were.

"Tenten," Neji murmured, taking the opportunity to smell her hair discreetly. She'd used a shampoo that reminded him of tropical fruits. "You're up."

The kunoichi yawned and blinked several times.

"Are you ready?" Lee asked with concern. "If you really don't want to do this, you don't have to. We could send someone else in."

Tenten stood up and stretched. Neji winced as she cracked her knuckles. "I'm fine, Lee." She smiled. "Alright. Wish me luck, then." Readjusting her hair one more time and checking her ear piece was still working, the kunoichi slipped out of the room with Neji at her side.

In the elevator, Neji took Tenten by her shoulders. "You can do this, you know. Just play your part, and you'll be fine. Tsukiko is a fun, vibrant and confident young woman."

"She's barely a woman, Neji," Tenten muttered dryly.

"Well, she knows that she's beautiful but at the same time, she's naïve. Just… pretend that he's someone that-"

"I'd throw myself at." Tenten finished dully. "Thanks for the advice, Neji. Next time, you can be the girl." She exhaled loudly and shut her eyes. Then, she flashed a daring smile at him and shrugged his hands away. Her mask had finally fallen into place.

Neji and Tenten's first experience in a club did not turn out well. It was dark and smoky, and Neji found it difficult to keep track of the kunoichi. Tenten on the other hand, was trying to devise a way to conveniently bump into Arata without seeming too… planned. However, it seemed that fate was on her side. Arata found Tsukiko first.

She was leaning against the bar, but the bar tender was no where to be seen. A few metres down, Neji was staring moodily into the sake bomb he had ordered. Tenten smiled to herself when he caught her eye. He had no intention of drinking anything he was served here.

"You know, I think he's trying to tell you something."

Tenten turned towards the voice, a coy smile playing about her lips.

"What's that?"

Arata looked far younger than twenty three. He was good looking in his photograph, but in real life, Tenten decided that the photograph had done him no justice whatsoever. His hair was bright blue and spiked out in all directions. His eyes were violet and his nose was slender, like the rest of his features. It was just too bad that he liked to exploit young, naïve girls.

"He likes you." His voice had a bit of a musical lilt to it and its rich tones sent pleasant tingles down to Tenten's toes.

She shrugged. "He's cute and all, but a bit too young for my liking."

Arata looked up and down the bar for the bar tender.

"I don't know who would leave a beautiful young woman like you waiting for a drink."

She shrugged. "Maybe he's a bit busy doing something."

"Maybe he's a bit busy talking to a beautiful young woman." Tenten giggled in response.

He flipped over the glass bar in a smooth motion and put his name tag back onto his shirt. "What can I get you tonight?"

"Well, Arata, what would you recommend?" Tenten leaned over the bar, and Arata's eyes dropped immediately to her neckline.

"For you? A flirtini, definitely."

Tenten smiled and watched as he poured the mixture champagne, vodka and fruit juice into the champagne flute.

"Don't drink it," Neji cautioned her.

"One flirtini for …"

"Tsukiko," Tenten replied, with a smile.

"On the house." Arata placed the drink in front of her and smiled.

"Thanks." Tenten raised the glass and sipped her drink. It sent tingles down her spine and burned down her throat. She set it down on the bar again. "Do you give free drinks often?"

"No," he replied. "Consider yourself special."

Tenten smiled and sipped the drink again.

"Be careful, Tenten." Neji was looking the other way, his blue eyes staring unseeingly at the people on the floor.

Tenten rubbed the back of her neck, shifting uncomfortably. She wanted to get this over and done with. "So, when do you get off?" She asked him as casually as she could.

Arata checked his watch. "In a few more minutes."

Tenten smiled and looked over to the dancers. "Do you like to dance?"

Arata paused briefly and smiled. "I don't dance."

Tenten leaned on the bar again, tucking one ankle behind the other, exposing more of her thigh. "That's not what I asked."

"Well, then. My answer is yes." He checked his watch and took off his nametag (it was a novelty, he explained later). "Well, Tsukiko, I am now… all yours."

Checkmate.


	2. Outer: Variables

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_or any affiliates. If I did, it would be called Neji. Or Tenten.

Written for the Live Journal NejiTen Contest 2007. First, Outer, Inner, Last.

**Arithmetic**

**Tanya Lilac**

_Variables_

Hyuuga Neji had always lived his life differently than others- a dark horse, a prodigy, an outsider- _lonely_. Contrary to common opinion, his life had not changed the day that he had met Tenten. He would not even remember that day, later in life, as anything other than ordinary; but then again, he would never be one for sentimental memories.

That was Lee's job.

Neji's life had been changed long before he'd first met Tenten, the day that he'd found out the truth of his father's death. Tenten had accepted these changes, never once questioning him and his change of heart. She already knew. He'd told her everything, a long time ago, when they'd been alone in the rain. Under his black umbrella, their breaths had come out in white puffs of steam and their words had been hushed but slow. His eyes had been hazed over with tears left too long unshed, as had hers, and they'd both been taken aback at how badly they'd needed to vent about everything, to share _something_.

Nevertheless, Neji was who he was, and while Tenten could not say that nothing could ever change him, she knew that she had complete faith in his abilities and capabilities not as a prodigy (she'd never accepted that title- it was an honour, she felt, that he did not deserve just from his blood) but as a human being. Most days, his compassion and sympathy extended only to a quick, brutal death for just another faceless enemy out in the field. On others…

On other days, Tenten saw glimmers of a different Neji buried deep within him. Not an 'inner child', or anything as sappy and innocent, but more of a "what if" kind of Neji. What if Hyuuga Hizashi had not died? What if Neji had grown up with a father? What if… Neji had known earlier?

But life was not made for "what ifs". Life was full of unexpected circumstances – variables, as Neji occasionally called them.

"Tenten!"

His voice was thunderous, tearing at the air with murderous intent. Tenten's blood turned cold. He had never raised his voice to her, ever, in all the years they had known each other. There was something wrong. He would not be pounding on the door in such a wild manner otherwise.

Tenten stood quickly and walked over to the dresser, searching for a weapon. There was nothing here- her bags were still in the other room. There was nothing in her hair, nothing tucked away and hidden in holsters, hidden ingeniously within inconspicuous accessories. She was naked.

"Tenten!"

She shivered again. Tenten opened the door- there was no use keeping it locked. He was leaning against the doorway, his black shirt untucked and coming undone. His eyes were unfocused, he was sweating, and his pulse was racing out of control.

"Neji," Tenten replied calmly.

"You… were just with _him_," he spat. "You and that… _criminal_."

"Neji," Tenten's voice quavered as he drew nearer to her, sensing her weakness like a ravenous wolf. He was in power here. He could do whatever he wanted and no one would ever know. Neji took a step forward, and Tenten took two steps back.

"You … wearing this _dress_…" He fingered the single sleeve that covered her right arm. The black silk slipped through his fingers with a whisper. "Do you know how hard it was for me, to sit back and watch you walk up to him? You're _fourteen_. He's a sick, sick man and you had to pretend that you wanted him. Wanted his body."

"Neji, you are _not _well," Tenten said firmly. "We need to get you to a hospital. Lee! Neji's been drugged!"

"I'm fine," Neji snapped loudly. His eyes lingered on her lips. "You are _mine_. No one else's." He pushed her up against the wall, slamming her hands above her head with his arm. "_Mine_," he growled possessively.

Tears of pain sprung unbidden to Tenten's eyes. Lee would be here soon. He would.

Neji leaned in and kissed Tenten's neck, tasting the slight salt of her fear.

"Who are you?" He asked suddenly, with surprising clarity. "My Tenten is not this scared. She would fight me. But you… you are someone else. You are… an enemy."

Tenten slammed her heel on Neji's foot and he broke his hold on her hands. The kunoichi punched him square in the jaw and dropped instantly into a defensive position.

Neji spat out his blood onto the floor and Tenten finally saw the knife that he'd been hiding. It didn't take a genius to figure that it had been poisoned with something worse than whatever Neji had been given.

The Hyuuga looked up at her with a baleful hatred. "Tell me who you are, and where the real Tenten is." He pushed her up against the wall again. "And maybe I'll let you walk out of here."

"I'm Tenten," she answered. Neji tried to activate his Byakugan without success. He put it down to anger, but Tenten knew it was a suppressant. They'd seen its effects earlier in the week, but it had not made Neji as aggressive and unpredictable as this. Irritable that he'd lost some of his power, yes, but not… enraged.

His hand was up against her neck, his grip beginning to bruise her windpipe. His other arm, which held the knife, pinned her hands up above her head again. Adrenaline was pumping through her system, and Tenten was sure she could stall him for long enough- if only Lee was here! She tried to manoeuvre her way out of Neji's grasp again, but he saw her sidestep coming and punched her in the stomach.

Winded, Tenten doubled over and Neji grimly grabbed her by the neck again and pinned her up against the wall. She couldn't fight him now, not when he was like this. He was livid with anger. He didn't want to fight her, anyway- he wanted to hurt her because he didn't know who she was and he felt so betrayed that someone had taken her place and …

She was losing her breath now, her heart was pounding, her head was spinning and she was seeing white sparks everywhere and it was too much- really, just too much.

"You are _not_ Tenten!" Neji's pupils were still dilated and unfocused. He clumsily brought up the knife and stabbed her right above the heart. The pain shocked her back into reality and Neji's hand dropped from her neck.

Taking in a deep, gasping breath, Tenten looked at him in horror, tears streaming unchecked from her eyes and Lee and Gai finally ran into the room. Closing her eyes as she took another deep breath in, she involuntarily coughed up blood and spat it on the floor. Every movement shifted the blade but it was too dangerous to remove it now without the proper medics on hand.

"Tenten!"

The voice was too loud. It echoed and rang in the kunoichi's mind and she fell back against the wall again. Gai and Lee took one look at Tenten, already on the verge of unconsciousness due to the poison on the blade and blood loss, and the wildness in Neji's eyes, and understood. With a well aimed kick, Gai slammed his foot against Neji's head and knocked him unconscious.

"Lee," Tenten whispered, disoriented. "He's drugged."

"It'll be alright." Lee said firmly. "Just hang on; we'll get you both to the hospital."

With the faithfulness that only Lee could muster, the second Green Beast of Konoha removed his weights (quietly) and picked up Tenten gently before running to the hospital as fast as he could.

But contrary to Neji's secretive attempts, life (and its meaning) could never be simplified into an equation. There were always far too many variables to solve.


	3. Inner: Remorse

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_or any affiliates. If I did, it would be called Neji. Or Tenten.

Written for the Live Journal NejiTen Contest 2007. First, Outer, Inner, Last.

**Arithmetic**

**Tanya Lilac**

_Remorse_

Tenten had never really liked staying within her comfort zone. That's why, over the past three years since she'd first met Neji, Tenten had been admitted to various hospitals no less than twenty-three times for a multitude of reasons. She wasn't blaming him, of course, but injuries were always an occupational hazard. She was always challenging herself, pushing herself to be stronger and better. They all did.

Maybe this time, Neji mused, she'd pushed herself too far. It had been his fault this time- drugged or not, _he_ was responsible. She was strong, and the knife had not pierced any vital organs or capillaries by a miraculous stroke of luck (perhaps, the old part of him whispered, it was not her fate to die at the hands of a comrade) and was still in recuperation.

Over the past three days, Neji had had a lot of time to think. He'd been forced to sit in a hospital bed, under constant observation, as the medics had tried to find the chakra suppressant and the other drug in his blood and create an antidote. It had worn off quickly, but the after effects of the drug were just as dangerous as the initial aggression. Neji had been temporarily photosensitive to a painful extent and, as a result, his temper was dangerously short the day after, and he still had not regained complete control over his chakra. For these reasons, he'd been kept sedated for a few days and no one had really spoken to him since he'd woken up. They'd just stared at him distastefully like he was a plague upon their conscience.

So, Neji had thought. The only thing he'd been able to think about was Tenten. The only thing that Neji's sedative-hazed mind could really conjure up was drugged Neji plus poisoned knife equals comatose Tenten.

Lee had visited with scraps of news, but it was Sakura who had been the most helpful. The young apprentice medic was learning fast and her super strength was developing quickly- her abilities had improved vastly since he'd last seen her at the Chuunin exams.

She came into the room and checked his charts and clipboards.

"How are my results?" Neji asked.

"Good afternoon to you too, Neji," Sakura replied crisply. "Your blood tests came back negative of all toxins and drugs, and we've been able to find a cure for the poison." She hesitated before asking, "If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up taking it? I thought you could sense poison in drinks."

"I do mind you asking," Neji replied frostily.

"Right," Sakura replied angrily. "And you're not going to ask after your team mate, after all this? You're the one who almost killed her, not to mention rape!"

"_What_?" He only knew that he'd been drugged right after their last mission. He couldn't recall going after Tenten, but Lee had told him that he had been the one to stab their team mate.

"You really don't remember any thing at all, do you?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"Did I not sound convincing enough for you in the first place?" Neji spat sarcastically.

Red colour flowed into her cheeks, and a hostile silence fell.

"So how is she?" Neji asked quietly.

Sakura hesitated before answering. "Better. She's stable now, but Lee's probably told you that the knife didn't pierce anything major. But the poison… It took a long time to figure out what it was and find an antidote."

"What happened?" Neji asked tersely.

Sakura took her time before replying. She looked down at the Hyuuga. He'd been labelled many things over the years- prodigy or caged bird – but he was here now, something completely different to what everyone else had once thought of him. He was vulnerable, slightly cranky like a child who had just woken up from a nap, worried and genuinely… _fragile_.

"You were on a mission, and you were drugged. Afterwards, you went to Tenten and you… assaulted her, thinking that she was the enemy, disguised." She paused. "You… were so enraged that you stabbed her."

Neji looked at her expectantly.

"That's all that I know," she confessed wearily.

"I want to see her."

"Neji, I will keep you here with _reasonable _force."

"Sakura, there is no need." Neji replied coldly. "I _will_ see her, and nothing will stop me."

"She's still in recovery!" Sakura snapped. "She needs her rest!"

"She's restless, isn't she?" Neji said suddenly. "She wants to see Lee. She wants to know what happened to me."

Without another word, Sakura turned on her heel and slammed the door shut behind her. The telltale click sounded and Neji knew that she really was trying her best to keep him away from Tenten. But she wasn't thinking like a ninja.

Neji rolled his eyes. "Typical." With a sigh, he pulled himself out of the bed and dressed slowly, stretching his stiff limbs. A few minutes later, he climbed up onto the balcony of the hospital. It was sunny, and towels and bed linen were hung up in straight lines, fluttering in the chilly autumnal breeze. He looked towards the water tanks. Lee had once mentioned, in passing, how angry the hospital staff had been when the water tanks on the roof of the hospital had been reduced to twisted metal shells devoid of water. Sasuke and Naruto had inadvertently decimated them in a brash fight. There had never been any intentional fighting within Team Gai. Tenten was much more effective in her threats of violence and had successfully kept balance between him and Lee when they'd been younger. But no one would have foreseen…

Neji slipped into Tenten's room silently. Lee had left flowers and he'd probably been tempted to leave umeboshi to help her get better. But even if she had liked them, she probably would have had trouble swallowing. In the dim light, Neji could see the dark bruises on her neck. Neji stretched out gingerly on the bed, on his side. He propped his head up on one elbow and looked down at her. Her hair was greasy and limp, her skin was pale and wan and her lips were cracked and dry. Tentatively, he raised his hand and stroked her hair back from her forehead.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," Neji began quietly. "I saw you talking to him, and I stopped paying attention to everything. I worry, sometimes. I … I make mistakes. And it makes me vulnerable, and everyone who is around me becomes endangered. And now you're here, in the hospital, and you're here because I tried to kill you. I know how much you hate apologies, but I know it's my fault."

Tenten did not wake up.

With the smallest amount of hesitation, Neji lowered his lips to her forehead, running his fingers over her hair one last time.

"Get better soon, Tenten."

He left her room the same way he had entered without another backward glance. He didn't see her open her eyes and sigh.


	4. Last: Leverage

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Naruto_or any affiliates. If I did, it would be called Neji. Or Tenten.

Written for the Live Journal NejiTen Contest 2007. First, Outer, Inner, Last.

**Arithmetic**

**Tanya Lilac**

_Leverage_

The year that Tenten became a Chuunin had been a year of firsts. It had not been the first time she'd been discharged from the hospital with a scar, but there was something different about her this time.

Her family hadn't commented much on her leaving the house one morning in a white dress, but Neji had frowned.

"You can't be seriously thinking of training in _that_," he said disdainfully, when she walked into their clearing.

"Well, I'm not training today, am I?" She replied. Her voice was husky. _Very _husky (Neji would later have to confess that he found it _very_... attractive).

Neji blinked several times as he took in what she was wearing. A white cotton dress, with lace edging and ribbon trimmings to bring in the waistline. Floral clips to pin flyaway tendrils of hair back into her braid. An anklet. _Completely_ impractical shoes. Rings and silver bangles. A sparkly, glamorous scarf that had no purpose whatsoever other than… to hide the ugly marks he'd given her.

"Sit down, then." Neji replied gruffly. He didn't really like this whole dress idea. It reminded him too much of the mock kimono some designer had cut apart and then labelled as fashionable. Black silk, a red obi and gold embroidery flashed in his mind and Neji stared at her, his mind's eye projecting the dress onto her lithe form, his hand against her neck, and her hands up against the wall. No wonder she shrank away from him.

"If I get this dirty, my mother would skin me alive," Tenten muttered, but she sat beside him anyway. "I have to be home in half an hour because my cousins are here for lunch."

The pair sat together awkwardly, refusing to meet each other's eyes. Tenten began to fiddle with the scarf and the bangles slithered down her wrist with a bright chime, glinting in the dappled sunlight.

"May I see it?" Neji asked tentatively.

Tenten looked up at him briefly. He'd been losing sleep lately, she knew. There were light smudges beneath his eyes and uncharacteristic worry made his eyes look… old. His hair had grown quickly over the past year and it was currently not its usual (strangely) shiny and enviously healthy state. Something was troubling him.

More often than not, it was some kind of Clan Tension. The other cases would be Tenten. It was laughable, sometimes, how predictable he could be.

"Tenten?" Neji prompted softly. He was being gentle with her, on purpose. Someone had probably told him. Or worse still, maybe he remembered something.

Tenten reluctantly raised her hands to her neck. She couldn't blame him- she wouldn't, either. But… the same eyes that wanted to see the marks that marred her skin had been the eyes that had burned her with their hatred and anger.

Neji watched as the scarf fell away to reveal the dark marks that still had not faded. She fidgeted uncomfortably and involuntarily flinched as he reached towards her with cool fingers.

"Tenten, I won't hurt you."

_This time_. She bit back the accusatory comment. He felt guilty, she knew that much at least.

"Please." Neji put his hand on her shoulder. Finally, the years of trust and teamwork arose in Tenten's mind- something that she'd forgotten over the past few days.

Surrounded by the scent of earth, sap and bark – _Konoha_– in the shade of their beloved oak trees, the two shinobi paused for a brief moment. Her bruises would heal over- and so would Neji and Tenten, unlike the kunoichi's new scar.

"What did I do to you?" Neji asked quietly, as if he was almost afraid to disturb the silence.

"Do you really want to know?" Tenten's voice trembled and they both knew it was not only because of her sore throat. "You came into the room, after Lee and Gai-sensei had gone off to secure Arata in a different room. I don't know where you had come from, but you were… angry."

It was an understatement by far, but his rage had been too far from expression with mere words.

"You were calling my name and pounding on the door, and there was not a weapon in sight because I hadn't been allowed to take any past the metal detectors. I let you in and called for Lee, but you insisted that you were fine." She took a deep breath and leaned against the tree. "You pinned me up against the wall with your hands around my neck. I got out at first, but you overpowered me and demanded to know who I was. And then you stabbed me." Tenten concluded, placing a protective hand over her hidden scar. "Lee and Gai-sensei came back into the room and knocked you out, and took me to the hospital. And that's all that I remember."

"I'm sorry," he replied awkwardly. He'd hurt her before, in training- Jyuuken hits had been the main reasons for her various hospitalisations but she'd never been scarred psychologically before. Besides, his apologies were much better when she couldn't hear him- like always.

With a still slightly unsure look in her eye, Tenten allowed Neji to pull her closer into his warm, lean body. With a gentleness that did more than expose his guilt, he caressed the bruises he had given her.

Tenten placed her hand firmly on his chest, pushing lightly against his weight. He responded silently, sliding his hands away from her neck and onto her shoulders.

She was close to him now; she could smell his skin and see his pupils- small circles of silvery grey, fractionally darker than his lilac irises. She could feel the warmth of his gentle breaths spread across her cheeks like sunlight on a windowpane. She felt his heart rate increase beneath her fingertips. His eyes dropped to her mouth, now curved in a breathlessly sensual smile. There was a tentative innocence to him now- yes, he really was not the same person who had left her skin marred.

"What's that smile for?" He murmured, pulling her up into his lap. Tenten's hands moved up from his chest to his neck.

"Nothing," She smiled again. "You, maybe."

"Really?"

He didn't wait for her to reply this time, and captured her lips swiftly, chastely, with the image of her smile still firmly stuck in his mind. Wrapping his arm firmly behind her back, he quickly removed the band that restrained Tenten's hair in its braid. He smirked against her lips when he heard her gasp lightly.

"Prick," she smiled as she pulled away breathlessly.

"You love it."

He leaned back and ran his fingers through her luxuriant locks, taking no heed of the small floral clips that fell to the ground, soon to be forgotten. It was just like he'd imagined. The rich, silken locks settled to frame her face and he smirked as he cupped her cheeks in his hands.

As a response, she tugged the ends of Neji's hair before slipping the hair band free.

"And what's that smirk for?" She asked, shutting her eyes as Neji kissed her again.

"Nothing," he replied. He kissed his way down to her bruises, his lips ghosting over the dark marks. "You, maybe."

"Really?" She asked breathlessly as he kissed her again.

Neji drew away for a moment before answering. "Really."

Their lips met once again in a kiss that was far less chaste than the others that had come before. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, her hands in his hair, still running through those silken strands that smelled like the cedars in the deep forest. She liked having leverage over him- he more than deserved it, considering his actions as of late. Her head was bent over his own, her auburn tresses spilling over their cheeks and mingling with his ebony hued hair. Smiling inwardly, Tenten finally granted Neji the entrance he'd been begging for, letting him taste her just once before pulling away. Smirking, he moved in for another kiss, but Tenten moved back with a devious spark in her eye.

"How is it… that I feel that you're just a completely different person when you're alone?" Neji asked, hearing little more than the frenetic beats of his own heart.

Tenten placed her head on his shoulder and smiled. "Because," she replied, "it's the truth."

"I see." He felt Tenten wrap her arms closer around his neck as she checked her watch and smirked as she gasped before a string of colourful curses burst forth from her mouth.

"I'm going to be _late_!" She scrambled to pick up her clips and Neji watched her bemusedly. "The least that you could do is help me, you know."

"I'd rather just sit here and laugh at you," Neji replied. They both knew that the closest that he'd ever come to a laugh was a half attempt at a smile.

"Laugh away," Tenten replied tartly. "You can train with Lee for your Jounin exams."

Neji dropped his smirk.

"Faker," Tenten muttered as she brushed off the back of her dress, the skirt crushed and rumpled. She hurriedly braided her hair again and draped the scarf nonchalantly about her neck.

She was about to walk off when Neji decided to say what he'd been meaning to say for a while now.

"Tenten?"

She stopped and turned just as she was about to leave the shade and protection of the oak tree.

"Just so you know…" He looked at the ground and Tenten could have sworn that he was blushing, "… I like you in white."

The year Tenten became a Chuunin had definitely been a year of firsts. But it had been the last year that she'd worn that pink shirt.


End file.
